1. Description of Related Art
FIG. 5 shows an example of a conventional electric connecting box 41 mounted in an automobile and the like. The electric connecting box 41 is equipped with a bus-bar laminated body 44, including a bus-bar 42 and an insulation base material 43, and a printed circuit board 45 having the function of an ECU unit. On the upper surface of the printed circuit board 45, various kinds of electronic components are mounted. Terminals of these electronic components are soldered to plated through-holes on the printed circuit board 45. Both ends of the printed circuit board 45 are inserted into first insertion openings 49 of a connector 48 having a plurality of connecting terminals inside 47. A plurality of exposed conductive portions 50 are provided on opposite ends of the printed circuit board 45, such that when the end of the printed circuit board 45 is inserted into the first opening 49, one end of each connecting terminal 47 press contacts the conductive portion 50. On the other hand, at the second insertion opening 51 of the connector 48, a male tab 42a formed on the tip of bus-bar 42 is inserted. At the male tab 42a, the other end of each connecting terminal 47 press contacts the male tab 42a. As a result, the side of the printed circuit board 45 and one of the bus-bar laminated bodies 44 are electrically connected. In this case, an exclusive insulation base material 52 is disposed between the printed circuit board 45 and bus-bar 42 in order to assure insulation between the soldered area on the printed circuit board 45 and the bus-bar 42.
The connector 48 in the conventional electrical connecting box 41 is, however, only held by the pressing force at each connecting terminal 47 for the printed circuit board 45. Therefore, positional displacement is easily brought about for the connector 48, which is liable to impair the connection reliability between the printed circuit board 45 and the bus-bar laminated body 44. In such a case, there may be a possibility that the male tab 42a may not be inserted into the second insertion opening 51.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6 in the case of a conventional electric connecting box 41 which uses connectors 48, the exposed conductive portion 50 is totally covered by the connector 48, in addition to the necessity of providing the conductive portion 50 on both ends of the printed circuit board 45. Therefore, a dead area 53 is formed that is occupied by the connector 48, which makes it impossible to form other conductive patterns, thereby causing the problems of making the wiring and component-mounting area smaller on the printed circuit board 45.
The present invention was made in view of the aforementioned problems, and an objective of the present invention is to provide connecting reliability between a printed circuit board and a bus-bar laminated body. In addition, another objective is to provide an electric connecting box that makes it difficult to generate any dead area on a printed circuit board.
2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connecting box housed in, for example, an automobile and the like, and is especially related to a connecting structure between a printed circuit board and a bus-bar laminated body in an electric connecting box.